


Cake and Armor

by Smackofjellyfish



Series: Mandalorians in Love [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, The Great British Bake Off RPF, The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Christmas, Could be Paz/Reader if you squint, F/M, Fluff, Happy Ending, I continue to love an unavailable man with no face, Romance, Smut, and a big brute who would probably crush me, it’s a pandemic and I’m binge watching all the tv what do you want from me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2021-01-06
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:35:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 1,400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28290018
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Smackofjellyfish/pseuds/Smackofjellyfish
Summary: What if a Mandalorian worked security for the Great British Bake Off Christmas show? What if he fell for one of the contestants?---A story told in sequential 100-word drabbles for theTwelvetide Drabbles, an annual fourteen-day drabble challenge to raise money for a social justice cause during the holiday season. This year's challenge raises money for thePartnership for Inclusive Disaster Strategies.One prompt per day provided byelizajane.
Relationships: Paz Vizsla/Original Female Character(s)
Series: Mandalorians in Love [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2067069
Comments: 1
Kudos: 6
Collections: Twelvetide Drabbles 2020





	1. December 24 - Violet

**Author's Note:**

> This is ridiculous and I do not care.

The sky was violet against the snow covering this green planet. Earth. Paz had read the brief. Protect the ones competing in this strange, non-violent competition. He didn’t understand it. But the covert needed money after the relocation, and someone had paid.

He settled behind a tree.

The sun rose and if he cared about beauty he’d have called it beautiful. The light, the trees, the white tent’s interior, covered in red fabric and green branches. A group of unarmed humans filed inside.

If he knew anything about beauty he’d have called _her_ beautiful. But he simply watched, and waited.


	2. December 25 - Slate

The blueberry jam filling, which she’d made perfectly at least a dozen times, was slate-colored and thin. She sighed in resignation, then laughed when Sue called it a delicious berry gruel. Thank God for Sue.

She hadn’t won her season of Bake Off, of course. She was a good baker but terrible under pressure. She just hadn’t wanted to spend another Christmas alone, and so here she was back in the tent for the holiday special.

When Paul declared loudly that her cake was like cement held together by glue, she thought she saw a movement out by the trees. 

  
  



	3. December 26 - Crimson

Paz crouched down, the blood crimson on the snow. No… not blood. Another fluid. Whoever else was lurking in the trees—he’d hit him, and he wasn’t human. But now he was gone.

“Who are you?”

Her voice startled him and he stood abruptly, tilting his visor to look down at the woman he hadn’t heard coming. He’d thought they’d gone for their break, and let down his guard. A mistake, and yet… he couldn’t regret a closer look at her.  _ If he knew anything about beauty... _

She stared up at him with curiosity and no small amount of fear. 

  
  



	4. December 27 - Tangerine

She held the tangerine, staring through the tent opening. She saw no sign of the man who said he was “security.” She knew a lie when she heard one. She knew the metal of his armor— _ armor! _ —and the weapons strapped over his body weren’t like anything on Earth. He was too big, too… everything. Too everything for this world.

“Shouldn’t you get started, love?” Mel’s voice brought her out of her thoughts. 

Right. The technical challenge.

Honestly, she had no idea what a tangerine bavarian was, and worse, she didn’t care. She wanted to go back to the trees.

  
  



	5. December 28 - Chocolate

“I brought you some chocolate,” she said. 

He should have disappeared. He should have removed himself. Hidden himself. He had no business allowing her to see him, to know he was there at all.

But he’d let her find him again, because he wanted to see her, to see if she still held fear in her eyes.

She didn’t. Only curiosity, which was far more dangerous. But he let her stay, and they talked under the trees until it grew dark and she said goodbye. He told her everything. _Everything_. 

When she was gone, he ate what she’d given him.


	6. December 29 - Emerald

The trees glowed emerald in the afternoon light. It was all perfect: the crisp and bright weather, the festive decorations in the tent, the red and green stand mixers. Even Paul was wearing a holiday jumper, and Mary was dressed in red and gold.

She sighed.

Competitive baking wasn’t  _ really _ what she wanted for Christmas. She only wanted… not to be alone. She checked over her showstopper ingredients once more. Perfect. Everything was perfect. 

Perfect and not at all what she wanted.

Her eyes drifted toward the trees, and she knew he was out there. Protecting. Waiting. 

She wasn’t alone.


	7. December 30 - Obsidian

Red eyes, obsidian armor. A dark trooper. He knew little about them. A hired gun, intended to disrupt this event and instill fear on this planet. It drew nearer, and Paz wondered why it didn’t hide itself from him. 

When he found out, he wished he hadn’t. 

Pain, hammering his skull. The grip on his arm almost enough to break through. He wouldn’t give up— _couldn’t_.

Through luck or stubbornness he fired his blaster through its neck. Eventually, it fell. But the pain continued. 

He staggered back against a tree. His job was done. They were safe. She was safe.


	8. December 31 - Lemon

It had all gone wrong, of course. She was distracted, and her lemon-cinnamon showstopper cake had sunk in the middle, underbaked and unpleasant, the eggnog cream split. A complete disaster.

She didn’t care. She hugged Mel once more as the festivities wound down, then found herself circling back into the trees as soon as she could.

His massive bulk was propped against a trunk, and as she watched his knees gave out and he sank into the snow.

She ran forward and gathered him close, her hands slipping on his armor. He smelled like lemon and cinnamon himself… and blood.

  
  
  



	9. January 1 - Lilac

He woke to the scent of lilac, which matched the color of the darkening sky when he opened his eyes. He tried to struggle to his feet, and then she was there, helping him. Holding him. Lilac. _Her_ scent. His knees nearly gave out again.

“I have a cottage down the road,” she said. “I rented it for this weekend. Can you make it?”

With effort, he nodded.

“I’m afraid you don’t exactly blend in. But most people are inside with family, anyway.” He caught the hint of a smile on her face, and his heartbeat sped up. “Merry Christmas.”

  
  



	10. January 2 - Ochre

The caramel was a perfect ochre color, the custard silky, the choux buns crisp on the outside and soft inside, filled with cream. She’d done it, just this once: the perfect showstopper, in the kitchen of the small cottage.

She wanted to bake for him, to offer something to the man who’d protected her. Who’d protected all of them.

He stepped out from the bathroom where he’d cleaned himself up and tended his injuries. He wore his full armor, and she was only a little disappointed.

They sat back to back so he could eat without her seeing his face.


	11. January 3 - Silver

Late that night, he stood and she thought he would leave.

Instead, he removed his armor, his clothing, and then… his helmet. He had a face like roughly carved granite.

She’d thought his eyes would be blue like his armor, or silver like the stars. But they were brown like his hair, like his beard, and warm like chocolate melted to a shine.

She ran her fingers over his torso, thick as a tree, muscled but not without padding. As if he, too, enjoyed indulging in whatever treats they had where he came from.

He cleared his throat. “I want…”


	12. January 4 - Turquoise

Through the window, the sky was turquoise with moonlight.

She pulled him onto the bed, his big body obedient and pliant in her hands. She nipped at his throat and he groaned. She licked at his shoulder and he rolled her over her back, blocking out all light.

His weight pushed her into the bed as they joined together, as his hands spanned her hips to brace her against his thrusts. He was almost too big, the pleasure almost too much to handle.

He was too everything for this world, and she only wanted to keep him with her always.


	13. January 5 - Gold

He tangled his fingers in the gold of her hair, soft threads against his rough hands. 

Their rhythm pushed them ever higher, until he felt her release overtake her, her gasp the sweetest sound in the universe. And then he was lost. Lost and found at once, far from home but never more home than at that moment.

They lay together, touching, exploring, again and again until they were spent. Contentment ambushed him, a feeling he wasn’t sure he’d ever known.

She slept and he kept watch, even though there was no danger. He wished he could protect her always.


	14. January 6 - Rose

In the morning, he stood and searched his clothes, handing her the last thing she expected: a rose-colored metal band, ancient and scarred and lovely.

“This is for you. It was my mother’s. I want you to have it before I go.”

“You have to go,” she said. Not a question. 

“I do.”

She blinked up at him. “I have no one here, really. Nothing except a terrible job and an empty flat.”

He paused, and her breath caught. Then he smiled at her before lowering his helmet over his head. He held out a gloved hand.

She took it.


End file.
